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'Opening Umno to non-Malays not as simple as opening durians'
Published:  Jan 18, 2016 7:00 PM
Updated: 11:19 AM

While DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang urged Umno to open its membership to non-Malays, Umno supreme council member Ahmad Shabery Cheek countered, saying that changing a political culture is not so easy.

Even among opposition parties, he said it is difficult for Malays to win a post in DAP, or for an Indian Malaysian to win a post in PKR, even though the membership of these parties is open to all Malaysians.

If Umno opens its doors to all races, would those other races find an easy path to posts at every level and every division in Umno?

It is (just) as hard for a Malay to secure a place in DAP, or an Indian in PKR, although those parties have opened their doors to all races.

Changing a political culture is not as simple as opening up a durian,” he said in a Facebook post today.

Ahmad Shabery, who is also the agriculture minister, was responding to a statement where Lim claimed that the time is ripe for Umno to open its membership to non-Malays.

The latter had said earlier today and in a separate statement yesterday that Umno appears to have a hard time embracing the idea, which was espoused by one of the party's founding leaders, Onn Jaafar.

Why is it so difficult to find another example in the 58 years since Merdeka and 53 years since the formation of Malaysia of a political leader who is prepared to pay the highest price for another Malaysian of a different ethnicity?”

“The time has come for the Umno leadership to consider Onn Jaafar’s proposal 66 years ago for Umno to open its membership to non-Malays so that Umno leaders can also be leaders of all Malaysians,” Lim said in a statement today.

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